She'ar Yashuv Cohen
Encyclopedia
Eliyahu Yosef She'ar Yashuv Cohen (Hebrew: אליהו יוסף שאר ישוב כהן) (born November 4, 1927) was the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi
of Haifa
, Israel
and the President of its rabbinical courts (1975-2011).
(see Isaiah
7:3). His father was Rabbi David Cohen
who was known as the "Nazir
of Jerusalem." His mother was Sarah Etkin, among the founders of Omen, a religious women's organization that became the Emunah movement. She'ar Yashuv Cohen's parents were cousins.
Cohen attended Talmud Torah Geulah and studied at the yeshivot
"Torat Yerushalayim," "Mercaz Harav
," and "Etz Hayyim." According to family tradition, Lubavitcher Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
hid in Cohen's grandfather's house after the Bolshevik Revolution. In his youth he became close to Abraham Isaac Kook
. Yeshayahu Hadari, co-founder of Yeshivat Hakotel
, said at a conference of the Ariel Institute that after Shabbat
Kook used to attend the melaveh malkah
at the home of the Cohen, and his son (She'ar Yashuv) would play the violin.
Cohen and his sister were encouraged to become Nazirite
s, but they chose not to follow in their father's path, apart from remaining vegetarians. When he was growing up, Cohen's hair was not cut, he wore canvas shoes, and he followed the Nazirite practices of his father. At the age of 16, a special Beit Din of Jerusalem rabbis convened in his house to release him from the Nazirite vow. Even today, out of an idealism for the holiness of life, he does not eat meat or fish, nor does he drink wine.
Cohen is married to Dr. Naomi, daughter of Rabbi Dr. Hayyim Shimshon (Herbert S.) Goldstein, a rabbinic leader and long-time president of the President of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and other national organizations, and granddaughter of the philanthropist Harry Fischel
. His sister Rabbanit Tzefiya, was married to Rabbi Shlomo Goren
, the Chief Rabbi of Israel. The Cohens have a daughter, Eliraz Kraus, six grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.
. With the support of his father and the Rosh Yeshiva
of Mercaz Harav, Tzvi Yehuda Kook, he led a group of youths who fought as part of the Hish
in the Israeli War of Independence, and helped to found the first military-religious core group that developed into a Yeshivat Hesder.
During the Israeli War of Independence, Cohen defended Jerusalem and Gush Etzion
, where he fought with Etzel
for the Old City of Jerusalem. He accompanied convoys of soldiers to Jerusalem and Gush Etzion, and also fought to defend the Gush. He was severely injured in the fighting to defend the Old City, and when the Jewish Quarter fell, he was captured by the Arab Legion
of the Jordanian Army. Together with the survivors of Gush Etzion and the defenders of the Jewish Quarter, he was taken to Amman
and then to the prison camp in "Mifrak." In prison, his leg was operated on, but he remained handicapped. He became one of the leaders of the POWs, and earned the respect of both British and Arab commanders in the camp.
Cohen served in the IDF
for seven years and reached the rank of sgan aluf (lieutenant colonel). He participated in talks with the Jordanians on returning the remains of Jews killed in Gush Etzion during the war. He also participated in an IDF delegation of to the United States, and served in senior positions in the army rabbinate, including army chaplain and chief rabbi of the Israeli Air Force
.
Cohen volunteered to fight in the Yom Kippur War
and served as Chaplain of the unit that crossed the Suez Canal
.
from the law faculty of Hebrew University. He specialized in legal advice on rabbinic rulings. He researched Israeli law
and its harmonization with the laws relating to the Land of Israel. Afterwards, he served as the deputy mayor of Jerusalem in the Mafdal (NRP) party, and continued in this role after the city was unified in the Six Day War in 1967.
Several years after the death of Yehoshua Kaniel in 1975, Cohen replaced him as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa
. He is also President of the Harry Fischel Institute for Talmudic Research and Torah Law. He founded the Midrasha HaGevoha LaTorah ("Advanced Torah Institute") and the Ariel Institute in Jerusalem. In 1983 and 1993, he was a candidate for position of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. He is a senior rabbinical adviser to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel
. He was the president of the Jerusalem Lodge of Bnai Brith, and of the Bnai Tsion "Sons of Zion" association in Israel. He was elected twice as President of the Jewish Law Association, and three consecutive times as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Haifa
. In 1999 Bar-Ilan University
conferred upon him an honorary doctorate. When Rabbi Cohen reached the age of 80, the City Council of Haifa
unanimously conferred upon him the title: "Honorary Citizen."
Several years ago, the Jerusalem D.A. summoned Rabbi Cohen to a hearing in connection with the alleged improper running of "Jewish Studies" courses for members of the police and other security personnel. These courses had been conducted for several years in Jerusalem under the auspices of institutes presided over by the former Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu. At the request of the then Chief Chaplain of the Northern Command of the Police, the Ariel Institutes of Haifa, under the presidency of Rabbi Cohen, agreed to host a parallel program for those living and serving in the northern part of the country. While the D.A. did not consider Rabbi Cohen to have been involved in the running of the program, he reprimanded him for having allowed the Ariel Institutes to grant a scholarship to the Yeshiva student son of the inatiator and head of the Haifa program, labeling it as a bribe. Rabbi Cohen did not wish to go to a court of law to contend the allegation, particularly since he was already well over the mandatory age of retirement. The D.A. agreed not to press charges, on condition that the Rabbi would officially annnounce his retirement. He is now Chief Rabbi Emeritus.
, and recently became Chair of the council for dialogue between Judaism and Islam
; he acts as an emissary of the Israel Chief Rabbinate to interfaith meetings and is currently on the Board of World Religious Leaders for The Elijah Interfaith Institute
.
In October 2008, Rabbi Cohen was invited by Pope Benedictus XVI, to lecture before the International Catholic Church Synod
in Rome
, that is the supreme body of the Catholic
Church, where he presented the Jewish view of the place of the Hebrew Bible
(Old Testament
) in the Jewish religion and liturgy. He used the occasion to oppose plans to beatify Pope Pius XII.
On January 28, 2009, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel
broke off official ties with the Vatican indefinitely in protest over the Pope's decision to lift the excommunication of controversial bishop Richard Williamson, a member of the Society of Saint Pius X. Shear Yashuv Cohen, chairman of the Rabbinate's commission, told The Jerusalem Post that he expected Williamson to publicly retract his statements before meetings could be renewed.
Cohen later reconciled with Pope Benedict in March 2009.
Cohen led the Jewish delegation of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to the ninth meeting of the Commission for Dialogue between Jews and Catholics in Rome from January 17–20, 2010.
(March 2005), he wrote:
Cohen continues with an appeal to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon
:
During the evacuation of Gush Katif
, Cohen strongly criticized the government of Israel: "Whoever uproots Jewish settlements in the land of Israel and God forbid will even cause destruction of synagogues and uprooting graves, will not be cleansed in this world nor in the afterlife... this is the highest form of evil and cruelty..."
He later added, "I cannot consider an act more cruel and more evil than what the government of Israel did this week in Gush Katif, like this with one hand. The act of demolition of a synagogue is something that is unheard of among nations of the world... There is no sin greater than this."
In an interview with Haaretz
newspaper, he said:
The religious precept to settle the Land of Israel is one that stands by itself, even in the absence of the State of Israel and Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. We upheld the precept to settle the land even when the Turks and the British ruled the land. Why can we not continue to live there even when the State of Israel withdraws its sovereignty from the soil? […]
I hear the voices. I dwell among the people. People are finding it difficult to swallow the new reality. When the government of Israel raises its hand to uproot Jewish settlements from the Land of Israel, it loses by its own actions the whole purpose and point of the state's existence. It is impossible to ignore this. The state is an instrument of holiness, not holiness itself, an instrument of a precept, not a precept. Even Rabbi [Joseph B.] Soloveitchik wrote that he would not lend a hand to unreserved subjugation to the state. That is idolatry. When the state behaves like a state of all of its residents, and not as a Jewish state, the attitude changes. I respect it as I do any other government. The practical significance is that when we recite the prayer for the government, we should pray that it should CONTINUE to be "the first flower of our redemption." Day.
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the President of its rabbinical courts (1975-2011).
Biography
She'ar Yashuv Cohen is an 18th-generation descendant in a family of rabbis and Torah scholars. The name "She'ar Yashuv" (Hebrew: שאר ישוב) is based on the eponymous son of the prophet IsaiahIsaiah
Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...
(see Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
7:3). His father was Rabbi David Cohen
David Cohen (rabbi)
David Cohen was a rabbi, talmudist, philosopher, and kabbalist. A noted Jewish ascetic, he took a Nazirite vow after making aliyah to Israel.-Biography:...
who was known as the "Nazir
Nazirite
In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or nazarite, , refers to one who voluntarily took a vow described in . The term "nazirite" comes from the Hebrew word nazir meaning "consecrated" or "separated"...
of Jerusalem." His mother was Sarah Etkin, among the founders of Omen, a religious women's organization that became the Emunah movement. She'ar Yashuv Cohen's parents were cousins.
Cohen attended Talmud Torah Geulah and studied at the yeshivot
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
"Torat Yerushalayim," "Mercaz Harav
Mercaz haRav
Mercaz HaRav , more properly, Mercaz HaRav Kook ), is a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1924 by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. It has become synonymous with his teachings....
," and "Etz Hayyim." According to family tradition, Lubavitcher Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
hid in Cohen's grandfather's house after the Bolshevik Revolution. In his youth he became close to Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar...
. Yeshayahu Hadari, co-founder of Yeshivat Hakotel
Yeshivat Hakotel
Yeshivat Hakotel is a modern-Orthodox religious Zionist hesder yeshiva situated in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was built in 1857. The yeshiva overlooks the Kotel ; hence its name. The Yeshiva is famous among tourists and tour guides for its entrance to the prayer plaza at the Kotel on Sabbath...
, said at a conference of the Ariel Institute that after Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
Kook used to attend the melaveh malkah
Melaveh Malkah
Melaveh Malkah is the name of a meal that, as per halakha, is customarily held by Jews after their Sabbath , in other words, on Saturday evening)...
at the home of the Cohen, and his son (She'ar Yashuv) would play the violin.
Cohen and his sister were encouraged to become Nazirite
Nazirite
In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or nazarite, , refers to one who voluntarily took a vow described in . The term "nazirite" comes from the Hebrew word nazir meaning "consecrated" or "separated"...
s, but they chose not to follow in their father's path, apart from remaining vegetarians. When he was growing up, Cohen's hair was not cut, he wore canvas shoes, and he followed the Nazirite practices of his father. At the age of 16, a special Beit Din of Jerusalem rabbis convened in his house to release him from the Nazirite vow. Even today, out of an idealism for the holiness of life, he does not eat meat or fish, nor does he drink wine.
Cohen is married to Dr. Naomi, daughter of Rabbi Dr. Hayyim Shimshon (Herbert S.) Goldstein, a rabbinic leader and long-time president of the President of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and other national organizations, and granddaughter of the philanthropist Harry Fischel
Harry Fischel
Harry Fischel was an American businessman and philanthropist based in New York City at the turn of the 20th century.Fischel was one of the leading pioneers in the growth of American Judaism, in general, and in American Jewish Orthodoxy, in particular, particularly in the dynamic precedent-setting...
. His sister Rabbanit Tzefiya, was married to Rabbi Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren , was an Orthodox Religious Zionist rabbi in Israel who founded and served as the first head of the Military Rabbinate of the Israel Defense Forces and subsequently as the third Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983.He served in the Israel Defense Forces during three wars,...
, the Chief Rabbi of Israel. The Cohens have a daughter, Eliraz Kraus, six grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.
Military activism
In 1948, while was studying at Mercaz Harav, Cohen joined the Brit Hahashmona'im (Hasmonean Covenant) underground resistance movement, which fought against the British mandate, and he was an active member of the HaganahHaganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
. With the support of his father and the Rosh Yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
of Mercaz Harav, Tzvi Yehuda Kook, he led a group of youths who fought as part of the Hish
HISH
The Hish was a corps formed by the Haganah in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1939 following the disbandment of the smaller mobilized force known as the Fosh. It was the Haganah's main surface corps, alongside Him and the Palmach....
in the Israeli War of Independence, and helped to found the first military-religious core group that developed into a Yeshivat Hesder.
During the Israeli War of Independence, Cohen defended Jerusalem and Gush Etzion
Gush Etzion
Gush Etzion is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestinian territories. The core group includes four agricultural villages that were founded in 1940-1947 on property purchased in the 1920s and 1930s, and ...
, where he fought with Etzel
Etzel
Etzel is* The common Israeli name for Irgun Tzvai-Leumi, or Irgun, a military organization operating in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1931 to 1948.* A German form of the name of Attila the Hun, for example in the Nibelungenlied....
for the Old City of Jerusalem. He accompanied convoys of soldiers to Jerusalem and Gush Etzion, and also fought to defend the Gush. He was severely injured in the fighting to defend the Old City, and when the Jewish Quarter fell, he was captured by the Arab Legion
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century.-Creation:...
of the Jordanian Army. Together with the survivors of Gush Etzion and the defenders of the Jewish Quarter, he was taken to Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
and then to the prison camp in "Mifrak." In prison, his leg was operated on, but he remained handicapped. He became one of the leaders of the POWs, and earned the respect of both British and Arab commanders in the camp.
Cohen served in the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
for seven years and reached the rank of sgan aluf (lieutenant colonel). He participated in talks with the Jordanians on returning the remains of Jews killed in Gush Etzion during the war. He also participated in an IDF delegation of to the United States, and served in senior positions in the army rabbinate, including army chaplain and chief rabbi of the Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
.
Cohen volunteered to fight in the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
and served as Chaplain of the unit that crossed the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
.
Political and public office
Cohen holds an honors degree in LawLaw
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
from the law faculty of Hebrew University. He specialized in legal advice on rabbinic rulings. He researched Israeli law
Israeli law
Israeli law is a mixed legal system reflecting the diverse history of the territory of the State of Israel throughout the last hundred years , as well as the legal systems of its major religious communities...
and its harmonization with the laws relating to the Land of Israel. Afterwards, he served as the deputy mayor of Jerusalem in the Mafdal (NRP) party, and continued in this role after the city was unified in the Six Day War in 1967.
Several years after the death of Yehoshua Kaniel in 1975, Cohen replaced him as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. He is also President of the Harry Fischel Institute for Talmudic Research and Torah Law. He founded the Midrasha HaGevoha LaTorah ("Advanced Torah Institute") and the Ariel Institute in Jerusalem. In 1983 and 1993, he was a candidate for position of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. He is a senior rabbinical adviser to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
. He was the president of the Jerusalem Lodge of Bnai Brith, and of the Bnai Tsion "Sons of Zion" association in Israel. He was elected twice as President of the Jewish Law Association, and three consecutive times as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Haifa
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
. In 1999 Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
conferred upon him an honorary doctorate. When Rabbi Cohen reached the age of 80, the City Council of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
unanimously conferred upon him the title: "Honorary Citizen."
Several years ago, the Jerusalem D.A. summoned Rabbi Cohen to a hearing in connection with the alleged improper running of "Jewish Studies" courses for members of the police and other security personnel. These courses had been conducted for several years in Jerusalem under the auspices of institutes presided over by the former Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu. At the request of the then Chief Chaplain of the Northern Command of the Police, the Ariel Institutes of Haifa, under the presidency of Rabbi Cohen, agreed to host a parallel program for those living and serving in the northern part of the country. While the D.A. did not consider Rabbi Cohen to have been involved in the running of the program, he reprimanded him for having allowed the Ariel Institutes to grant a scholarship to the Yeshiva student son of the inatiator and head of the Haifa program, labeling it as a bribe. Rabbi Cohen did not wish to go to a court of law to contend the allegation, particularly since he was already well over the mandatory age of retirement. The D.A. agreed not to press charges, on condition that the Rabbi would officially annnounce his retirement. He is now Chief Rabbi Emeritus.
Interfaith dialogue
Cohen is active in interfaith dialogue. He was awarded Israel's Sovlanut award (tolerance) in 1991. He serves as a chief of the senior council for dialogue between the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the VaticanHoly See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, and recently became Chair of the council for dialogue between Judaism and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
; he acts as an emissary of the Israel Chief Rabbinate to interfaith meetings and is currently on the Board of World Religious Leaders for The Elijah Interfaith Institute
The Elijah Interfaith Institute
The Elijah Interfaith Institute is a nonprofit, international, interfaith organization which was founded by Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein in 1997. Its mission is to foster peace between the world's diverse faith communities through interfaith dialogue, education, research and dissemination...
.
In October 2008, Rabbi Cohen was invited by Pope Benedictus XVI, to lecture before the International Catholic Church Synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, that is the supreme body of the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
Church, where he presented the Jewish view of the place of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
(Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
) in the Jewish religion and liturgy. He used the occasion to oppose plans to beatify Pope Pius XII.
On January 28, 2009, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
broke off official ties with the Vatican indefinitely in protest over the Pope's decision to lift the excommunication of controversial bishop Richard Williamson, a member of the Society of Saint Pius X. Shear Yashuv Cohen, chairman of the Rabbinate's commission, told The Jerusalem Post that he expected Williamson to publicly retract his statements before meetings could be renewed.
Cohen later reconciled with Pope Benedict in March 2009.
Cohen led the Jewish delegation of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to the ninth meeting of the Commission for Dialogue between Jews and Catholics in Rome from January 17–20, 2010.
Views on disengagement from Gaza
In an article in Makor RishonMakor Rishon
Makor Rishon is an Israeli daily newspaper, identified with conservative national and religious values.It is published in Tel Aviv; most of its readership is made up of paying subscribers. During the week, Makor Rishon is published in tabloid format...
(March 2005), he wrote:
The State of Israel is dear and beloved to me as the first flowering of our redemption [Reishit Tzemihat Ge'ulateinu]. Especially for this reason, I cannot avoid... expressing my clear position that the "State of Israel" is not the supreme value in our lives, in terms of being a goal unto itself. There are more important demands that take priority over this, since surely everyone who seeks to be in the State of Israel aims to protect them and guard them...
Cohen continues with an appeal to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
:
It is asked: Why uproot the settlements? Why can they not exist in a Palestinian state... and continue to observe all the commandments of inhabiting the Holy Land, as our fathers and forefathers did throughout the generations...?
During the evacuation of Gush Katif
Gush Katif
Gush Katif was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza strip. Gush Katif was specifically mentioned by Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister who fell victim to an assassin in 1995, as essential to Israel's security border. In August 2005, the Israeli army moved the 8,600...
, Cohen strongly criticized the government of Israel: "Whoever uproots Jewish settlements in the land of Israel and God forbid will even cause destruction of synagogues and uprooting graves, will not be cleansed in this world nor in the afterlife... this is the highest form of evil and cruelty..."
He later added, "I cannot consider an act more cruel and more evil than what the government of Israel did this week in Gush Katif, like this with one hand. The act of demolition of a synagogue is something that is unheard of among nations of the world... There is no sin greater than this."
In an interview with Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
newspaper, he said:
The religious precept to settle the Land of Israel is one that stands by itself, even in the absence of the State of Israel and Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. We upheld the precept to settle the land even when the Turks and the British ruled the land. Why can we not continue to live there even when the State of Israel withdraws its sovereignty from the soil? […]
I hear the voices. I dwell among the people. People are finding it difficult to swallow the new reality. When the government of Israel raises its hand to uproot Jewish settlements from the Land of Israel, it loses by its own actions the whole purpose and point of the state's existence. It is impossible to ignore this. The state is an instrument of holiness, not holiness itself, an instrument of a precept, not a precept. Even Rabbi [Joseph B.] Soloveitchik wrote that he would not lend a hand to unreserved subjugation to the state. That is idolatry. When the state behaves like a state of all of its residents, and not as a Jewish state, the attitude changes. I respect it as I do any other government. The practical significance is that when we recite the prayer for the government, we should pray that it should CONTINUE to be "the first flower of our redemption." Day.
Published works (Hebrew)
- חקרי הלכה - קובץ תשובות, פסקים וקונטרסי הלכה דברים שכתב, חיבר ופרסם במשך שנות כהונתו ברבנות העיר חיפה
- שי כהן - שעורים, תשובות, ברורים וחקרי הלכה, הארות במשפט התורה ובמחשבת ישראל
- משנת הנזיר - עיקרי משנתו ותולדות חייו של הרב דוד כהן (אביו של הרב שאר ישוב כהן), מתוך יומניו, עם מבואות ופרקי זכרונות
- בסתר המדרגה - דברים מתוך משנת מרן נזיר אלקים הרב דוד כהן ומבואות לשיטתו
- יונתי בחגוי הסלע - חיבור שחיבר לעילוי נשמת אמו, הרבנית שרה כהן
- שלשה שותפים - להארת דמותם של: רבו הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק, אביו הנזיר הרב דוד כהן ואמו הרבנית שרה כהן
External links (Hebrew)
- "שיעורי הרב שאר ישוב כהן" - שיעורי וידאו של הרב שאר ישוב כהן מתעדכנים מדי שבוע
- שיעור בוידאו של הרב שאר ישוב כהן - ישראל ואומות העולם
- "מראה כהן", כתבה על הרב בעיתון "בשבע" גיליון מס' 205 (כ"ג במנחם-אב ה'תשס"ו, 17 באוגוסט 2006).
- מאיר ושרה אהרוני, אישים ומעשים בחיפה והסביבה, ינואר 1993.